With dimensions: a trapezoid tanktop design

Continuing with my variations on the pleating theme, I thought to simplify the overlapping fronts plus shoulder pleats with this design:

 It doesn't get much simpler, does it?  Originally I wanted to have the shoulder "seam" shirred to about 10 cm/4", and to minimize the bulk in that area, made the top of the garment on a fold.  There's actually no shoulder seam at all.

This fabric (an uber-lightweight silk crepe from Fashion Fabrics Club) does very well to show the construction, with its horizontal pattern theme (in flat fabric, the rivers really are perfectly horizontal).  Once I saw it in the mirror like this, it became clear that shirring these lovely waves was going to be just too much. No, it would downright ruin what's already a great feature.  So I left it as is.

The  neckline is bound with not-quite-45-degrees bias, armholes are folded over twice, side seams frenched, and the bottom band is doubled and stitched in the ditch.  Not a single raw or serged edge to be seen anywhere! The top uses practically every scrap of  exactly one yard of 42" width fabric.

Edit: by request, actual measurements.

 These are the finished dimensions.  The raw fabric pieces were:

Main body:  79 cm/31" wide x 112cm/44" long, folded in half along the top. Because the fabric is very light and hard to cut perfectly straight, I allowed 2cm/0.75" for each double fold on the sleeves. The bottom is tapered to 56cm/22" wide.  The diagonals start 21.5cm/8.5" below the fold, and that's also where diagonal seam ends.  The front neckline is cut in a curve that drops it about 3.5cm/1.5" lower than the back, which is straight across.


Bottom band:  a single piece of fabric, 109cm/43" x 20.5cm/8".  I attached it after only one vertical/diagonal seam was sewn, and then sewed it closed in one go with the other vertical/diagonal seam.

The pants, a teeny beige-white pinstripe, are a silk-linen blend from Michael's.

The coin toss gets it: 3 out of 5!

We had to wait till a daytime moment while both I and my lucky charm child were home - aaaaand .... just completed the winning coin toss:   ta-daaaah!

Winner (I'm not telling - you'll have to watch the video!)*, please email me (hostahead at gmail dot com) your addy, and I'll post you the pattern. Of course, you WILL make something within the week, and post it for all of us to admire, right? ;)  I'm keeeeding!

Thanks to you both, Ann and Deborah, for giving me the opportunity to have this little bit of fun!
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*(oh, OK - I'll tell in a week or so).

An experiment in draping

Having first explored the slicing and dicing approach to tee variability, I turned to draping.

The one-shoulder wonders from Burda's Nov. 2010 issue, though a tad impractical for everyday wear (understatement!) or even a daytime Christmas party (lots of those creeping up on many of us!), do have potential.

It occurred to me that they could easily be adapted to something a little more wearable. Especially so when you look at the pattern pieces; top 105 and dress 106:

 What are they, exactly? An adaptation of a tee: one shoulder is removed above the armhole,  and the other side widened sufficiently to make the shoulder seam twice as wide as normal.

It's easy enough to reproduce if you happen to have a "cut one on fold" sleeveless tee pattern piece.

I first redrew the complete front (the right half with a dashed line), then matched the lower right corner of the original half-pattern piece to the drawing and rotated it to the right so the shoulder seam was widened to twice its original width.  Free-handed the neckline curve to the opposite armscye, and cut away the no-longer-needed shoulder piece (marked with X). 

As a last step, after verifying that the overall width was more than sufficient, I pleated out the bust dart.

To make my tee, I cut two fronts and gathered their shoulders to the shoulder seams of my regular tee back. 

I bound the entire neck seam before sewing up the sides; because the two fronts' overlap is quite high, there's absolutely no need to attach them to each other.

I made this up in a very lightweight and sheer polyester crinkle crepe, too light to be a single layered front, but perfect if doubled. The back, in "coffin clothes" fashion, is a plain single layer, but I plan to cover it with a lightweight white blouse ;) at the very least.  

Overall, the effect is oh so modest.  But - if you wanted to have something a little less daytime, you could duplicate a similarly double layered back, gather the shoulders some more and curve the diagonal seam a little lower.  Why not even run that neckline curve below rather than above the bust?

White blouse #1 finished, and planning the second

Without much ado, blouse #1:

And here, with the belt - which I made loooooong enough for sure - wrapped twice around.  No doubt it'll also look better without the second belt holding up my jeans under it: you can see how it thickens up the hipline (yuk!).

 

You can also see just how very light is this fabric - doing a turned edge really wouldn't have worked, I fear. 

 

Completely see through - it'll never be worn IRL without a tank or cami under it.

Evaluating it for the design, I had deliberately made the shoulder line a little dropped, but now that I see it in action, I do believe that I'd prefer those seams to sit on, not fall off, my shoulder point.  Easy enough, and I already shifted them upwards by 1.5" before I put the pattern pieces away.  The waist darts in the back look like they could be brought in towards centre a little as well.


I'm thinking that my second blouse will share a few similarities with this one:  a cut-on collar and a waist tie.  I plan to base it on Burda 105-6-2009, a pattern which I already used some time ago to make this reversible silk dupioni jacket:

This one has an absurdly dropped shoulder.  You might think that this was my poor quality fitting, but not so! I cut my usual 38 and stay-stitched the necklines to ensure they don't stretch, and, if you look at the model jacket on a dummy, the dropped shoulder is quite evident.  Maybe someone in the drafting department forgot to shorten the shoulder of a jacket sloper originally intended to have linebacker shoulder pads (hello, eighties)?!   which of course are impossible to put into a reversible garment.  Whatevah - I'll just shorten the shoulder seams so the sleeves actually reach my shoulder. 

Here's what I like about this jacket:  the armhole princess seams, which shift the waist tie closer to centre, from way off on the side seam.  I'll change the collar-less lapels to a cut-on collar, and, instead of making it reversible, I'll -probably - add a facing as I did to the lightweight shirt above. Or, if I choose a heavier fabric, just do a facings-less hem and front edge, though I'll probably do at least an interfaced undercollar.

Vogue pattern giveaway

As before, I'm inviting you again to help me divest my sewing space of my duplicate patterns.  Vogue's error, they once sent me two boxes of one order. This one is Very Easy Vogue V8436, now out of print, size 6 to 12. 

I love a raglan sleeve, and, with front chest darts, this pattern has good bones.  It would be ever so easy to add front &/or back waist darts to add some shaping, change the shape of the sleeve, straighten the front, add a fold-down collar.... or not.  Now that I think of it, I just might use my copy for my next white blouse.

To be included in the draw (7 days from today), be a follower, and leave a comment here.  That's all!  Shipping's on my dime, of course.